Sediment-extractor for steam-boilers



(Ho Mode 1.) 2 Sheet-Sheet 1.

J. E..THOMAS. SEDIMENT BXTRAGTOE FOR STEAM BOILERS.

No. 530,137. Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2] J. E. THOMAS. SEDIMENT EXTRAGTOR FOR STEAMBOILERS.

' No .-530,137. Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

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UNiTED STATES PATENT FFIQE.

JAMES E. THOMAS, OF BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

SEDlMENT-EXTRACTORFOR STEAM-BOILERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,137, dated December4, 1894.

v Application filed April 4, 1890. Serial No. 346,540. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES E. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Sediment-Extractors forSteam- Boilers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description-of the in-' vention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Myinvention relates to improvements in devices for extracting thesediment from steam boilers, and pertains especially to that class ofsediment extractors having a settling reservoir provided with suitablepipes passed into the boiler, and terminating with a sediment collectoror skimmer, for conveying the sediment and water from the boiler to thereservoir and a return pipe for conducting the water again to theboiler.

The first part of myinvention relates to the form and construction ofthe sediment collector within the boiler and consists in the combinationand arrangement of the devices whereby it may be easily constructed andplaced in position within the boiler.

The next part of my invention relates to the construction andarrangement of the sedi-' ment collector, whereby a current of watercharged with sediment is forced through the pipes and settling chamberby a portion of the steam which is formed beneath the'sedi: mentcollector being conducted into the ed uction pipe. l

Another portion of the invention pertains to the arrangement andconstruction of the settling reservoir, and consists in a suitablehorizontal plate, placed across the reservoir and dividing for a part ofits length the lower portions of the reservoir from each other,wherebytlie precipitated sediment is allowed to pass beneath the plateand remain undisturbed by the current flowing through the upper portionof the chamber.

The objects of my invention are to so arrange and construct a sedimentcollector for catching up or skimming the sediment from the surface ofthe water,in steam boilers, that may be easily passed through theman-hole of the boiler, and may also be easily adjusted to adapt it todifferent boilers of varying dimensions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a strong and reliablecurrent through the sediment collector, the pipes and the set tlingchamber.

- Athirdobject is to so arrange and construct the settling chamber thatthe sediment deposited within will remain undisturbed by any varyingcurrent through the chamber or by any inflow of steam through the pipefrom the boiler.

i I attain these objects by the devices illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which- I Figure 1, represents a longitudinal verticalsection of a steam boiler with my invention attached thereto. Fig. 2, isa horizontal section of the same. Fig. 3, isa section of Fig.

-1, taken at 03-00. Fig. 4, is a vertical section of Fig. 1, taken aty-.y. Fig. 5. is a longitudinal vertical section of a steam boiler withmy device applied thereto in a modified form. Fig. 6, is a longitudinalsection of the sediment collector in a modified form,'appliedto asteamboiler.

a, represents a steam boiler and b, are the 1 fines.

c, is a settling chamber placed outside of the boiler and is preferablylocated above the boiler, and may be either horizontal or vertical asdesired.

d, is a return pipe with one end connected with one end of the reservoirand with its opposite end passed into'the boiler and terminating belowthe water surface'therein.

.while reaching entirely across the boiler, it

e, is an outflow pipe with one end secured end, and sides 1', raised toa suflicient height to bring their upper edges above the surface of thewater, and j,j, are wing portions in the form of troughs pivotallysecured by their inner ends to the portion 7L, by bolts 70, in theirouter edges, and by the bolts Z, which are passed through slots m, attheir inner edges, and the outer ends of the troughs extend forwardlyand reach to the sides of the boiler shell. The rear sides at, of thetroughs reach above the water surface and form a continuation of thesides 2', while the front sides 0, of the troughs are raised butslightly so that the surface of the water will be considerably abovetheir upper edges. The central port of the portion h, in front of theenlarged end f, is raised upwardly and the rise is continued rearwardlybeneath the end f, so that a cavity 19, is formed beneath the collectorwith an arm portion q, of the cavity reaching rearwardly, and throughthe upper portion of the arm q, is formed an opening 0", beneath theenlarged end f, while an opening s, is provided on each side between thebottom of the collector and the lower edges of the endf, and a space If,is provided within the open end f, around the opening 7'.

Within the reservoir 0, and about midway of its vertical dimension, andat the end to which is connected the outflow pipe e, is placed ahorizontal dividing plate 01'. This plate extends entirely across thereservoir and reaches also to nearly the middle of the length thereof,and to the end of the reservoir aud beneath the plate is connected oneend of a blow 0E pipe e, which is provided with a suitable valve f, andhas its outer end terminating in any convenient position.

In practice the boiler is filled to the proper height with water, whichcommonly contains more or less vegetable and mineral matter in solutionand suspension, and fire then being applied within the furnace, thetemperature of the water is raised until steam of the required pressureis obtained in the usual manner, and the steam pressure causes the waterto rise in the pipes d, and 2, (their inner ends being below the waterlevel) and fill the reservoir c, and the steam made upon the shell andflues below the collector g, rises through the water beneath andiscaught in the cavity 10, and then following the arm or groove portion q,it passes upwardly through the opening 0, into the space t, and thenceupwardly into the pipe e, which it fills entirely across and pushes thewater contained therein upwardly and into the reservoir and forces acorresponding amount of water from the reservoir through the return pipe(2, into the boiler. The steam rising in the tube, has a lifting actionon the balanced system which causes the water in the return pipe d, todescend into the boiler, and the change from temperature of the boilerto the lower temperature of the reservoir causes a condensation of thesteam uprising through the pipe 6 to obtain, and the space thus providedis immediately filled by water from beneath the open end portion f, asthe current is already established and the water in the pipe andenlarged end has already an upward and onward movement, so that thewater from the skimmer will pass into the pipe to fill the space withless effort than water could pass below the particle of steam to fillthe vacancy as condensation takes place. The opening from the cavity tothe enlarged end f, is of an area to prevent the exit of all steamcollected in the cavity, so that the steam collected and contained inthe cavity displaces the water therein and has a'pressure, additional tonormal, of the weight of water displaced and hence passes from theopening into the enlarged endf, with considerable force and velocitywhich, when the current is fully established, is maintained until thesteam is fully condensed.

Of course it will be seen that any desired amount of steam may be caughtbeneath the cavity p, but the quantity needed to form the requiredcurrent in the pipe e, may be regulated by the size of the opening 7',and as a more complete and satisfactory current is formed through thepipes and reservoir when onlya proper amount of steam is admitted to thepipe e, a tapering plug 9, fitted to partly fill the opening 1', isplaced in position in the opening, and is provided with the stem whichleads upwardly through the pipe 8, and through a proper packing box t",which is arranged on an angle of the pipe, and the stern h, is providedwith a screw-thread or other suitable means, whereby to raise or lowerthe plug into the opening to increase or diminish the area thereof, sothat only the desired amount of steam caught by the cavity 1', may beused through the pipe 6, while any excess of steam caught by the cavity,will pass from beneath the collector and into the steam space above thesurface of the water.

The portion h, of the collector is of a size to easily be passed intothe boiler through a man-hole of ordinary size and the part h, beingplaced within the troughsj, may be then secured thereto by the bolts 70,and spread out to extend entirely across the boiler, so as to catch thesediment along the edges of the water surface, and secured in positionby the bolts 1, passed into the slots m.

It is well known that with a majority of steam boilers the currentwithin the boiler is from front to rear upon the surface of the waterand the sediment containedin the water rises in the form of scum or foamand is carried rearward by the current and away from the portion mostagitated by the fire directly beneath, and by this means the scum orsediment is carried into the laterally extending wing portion j, whichbeing provided with low front sides 0, and higher rear sides 7;, formsan eddy which deflects the sediment to the central portion h, where itis caught by the current formed by the steam uprising through the pipe6, and drawn thereby IIO through the opening 3, and the space 2, intothe pipe e, and thence into the reservoir 0, which being wider than thepipe allows the current to spread out and become slow, and the sedimentthen drops upon the plate d, and is swept over its inner edge and fallsto the bottom of the reservoir, and the constant current forwardlythrough the upper portion of the reservoir, causes a movement rearwardlyof the water in the lower portion of the reservoir which carries thesediment beneath the plate cl, where it remains undisturbed by anyviolent agitation in the upper portion of the reservoir, until blown outthrough the pipe 6, and in the meantime the water relieved of itssediment, returns again to the boiler through the return pipe 61.

Of course it will be understood that the collector d, may be made in adifferent form from that shown,if desired, and the cavityp, may beomitted from the collector and a separate device in the form of aninverted funnel may be placed in some other portion of the boiler ifdesired, substantially as shown in Fig. 5, and in that case a pipeleading from the top of the cone or funnel to the lower portion of thepipe 6, would be provided instead of the portion p,lshown and described,and the action would be the same, as the required quantity of uprisingsteam'would be thereby pro- 'vided to produce the desired currentthrough the pipes and reservoir.

The reservoir may be used without the plate d, and a fair resultobtained, and the reservoir may if desired, be arranged to stand in avertical instead of a horizontal position, and may be located in anydesired position in relation to the boiler, so long as the pipe e, islocated in either a vertical or oblique position to allow the steam topass upwardly therein, and permit a proper condensation of the same totake place.

Of course it will be understood that while I have described the cavitybeneath the collector as being raised into the bottom of the collector,the construction of the collector can be arranged differently and thecavity formed otherwise, as the intent is to provide suitable means toretain a portion of the steam which uprises through the water in theboiler and conduct it into theoutfiow pipe, where by its lifting forceand condensation it produces a current of water through the collectorpipes and reservoir.

As shown in Fig. 6, the cavity 19, is formed by extending a flange u,downwardly around the portion h, of the collector, the portioncontaining the opening 1", being raised slightly to bring the openingwell within the open end of the enlarged endf, and in Fig. 4, is shown apipe '1), with an inverted funnel shaped end to, secured to one end andlocated in one portion of the boiler, while the opposite end of the pipeis upturned and led into the outflow pipe e, and the operation is thesame as the steam rising through the water into the funnel end will-passinto the outflow pipe with the same effect as were the cavity or funnelbeneath the collector; and for removing sediment from the boiler whichis of such a nature that it sinks to the bottom and does not risereadily to the. surface of the water, the collector g, may be omitted.and the outflow pipe extended and the enlarged endf, placed with itsopen end in proximity to the bottom of the boiler over the position inwhich the sediment is usually collected by the currents, and thesediment then is carried upward with the strong current formed by theuprising steam with the same facility as if the collector were used andthe sediment rose to the surface. Therefore I do not confinemy inventionentirely to the location and construction of the several parts as hereindescribed; but

What I claim is 1. The combination of a steam boiler a col lectingreservoir having outflow and. return pipes passed into the boiler andreaching below the water surface, and with an enlarged funnel endconnected to the inner end of the outflow pipe and havingits mouthpresented to the bottomof the boiler, a sediment collector beneath saidenlarged end, a steam chamber below the collector, and a passage forsteam from the steam chamber to said enlarged end, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination in a steam boiler, of a collecting chamber outside ofthe boiler, and the out-flow and return pipes having one end connectedwith opposite ends of the collecting 10o chamber and with theiropposite-ends passed into the boiler and reaching below the watersurface, of a sediment collector provided on its under side withacavity-to catch the steam made beneath, and provided with an opening forthe egress of the steam, afunnel covering the opening and connected tothe lower end of the said out-flow pipe and with aspace between thecollector and the edges of the funnel, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a steam boiler, a collecting reservoir outsideof the boiler and provided with out-flow and 'return pipes passed intothe boiler and with an enlarged end orfunnel connected to the inner endof the out-flow pipe and having its open end beneath the water surface,of a sedimentcollector beneath the said enlarged end and provided on itsunder side with a cavity for catching the steam rising beneath, andhaving an opening for the steam to pass from the cavity through thefunnel end and into the out-flow pipe for the purpose set forth,substantially as described.

4. In a sediment extractor the combination of a steam boiler acollecting reservoir having out-flow and return pipes passed into theboiler and an enlarged end or funnel connected to the inner end of theout-flow pipe and having its open end presented to the bot- IIO andthrough a packing box '5, substantially IO as and for the purpose setforth.

In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature in presence of two witneses. t

JAMES E. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

G. P. THOMAS, J. FRED. BECKBISSINGER.

